by submission | Jul 19, 2014 | Story |
Author : Bob Newbell
“It’ll cost me that much?!” asked the thin man in a louder voice than he’d intended. The man in the black suit who sat across from him in the coffee shop leaned in and gestured for him to lower his voice.
“For the service you require, Mr. Dalrymple, the cost is quite reasonable.” The man sipped his espresso con panna.
“But that’s,” the thin man began and then leaned in and spoke more softly. “But that’s almost all the money I embezzled.”
“And you’ll get an equivalent sum back, plus or minus a few percent. Two percent of your funds will be invested in a very diversified portfolio. Even with taxes and market crashes, one hundred years of compound interest adds up.”
“But I’m losing ninety-eight percent up front,” protested the thin man.
The man in the black suit gestured at one of the waitstaff robots that ran along tracks in the ceiling. It glided over to the table. The machine telescoped down to eye level and took his drink order.
“Mr. Dalrymple, you appreciated the scope of the service I’m offering, do you not? A whole new identity including name, birth certificate, social security number, and detailed education transcripts, work history, and medical records. Suspended animation for one hundred years. A nanotech wetware package to give you knowledge of historical, sociopolitical, economic, and technological advances during your hibernation, as well as fluency in the top three predominant languages at the time of your reanimation. And there are, of course, the little matters of not going to prison and being able to enjoy the money you…appropriated.”
“How do I know I’m not going to simply be put in suspended animation indefinitely? Or maybe for just a day? And then I’m reanimated to discover my identity was never changed and the police are after me and you’ve made off with the money?”
The waiter robot returned, descended, and placed another espresso in front of the black-suited man.
“Do you recall a recent news item involving a man named Jason Underwood?”
“Yeah. He was that guy who pulled off that big bank robbery 20 years ago. The cops just caught up with him finally. Say, I remember them saying he didn’t look a day older. Was he…?”
“One of my clients? Yes. Mr. Underwood was a stubborn man. I recommended a much longer duration of suspended animation than 20 years. He wouldn’t hear of it. And then he was foolish enough to contact his old girlfriend after his reanimation. It was she who betrayed him to the authorities. I always warn my clients never to contact old family or acquaintances. A clean break with one’s past is required.”
“Aren’t you worried he’ll tell the authorities about you?”
“What name will he give them? The one I gave you? I have nearly two dozen identities I employ. And I put myself into suspension for years at a stretch with some regularity. One does not pursue this career successfully for half a millennium by being sloppy.”
The thin man considered his words. “Alright,” he said at last. “How do we begin?”
The man in the black suit handed him a card. “Bring the money to this address tomorrow at 9:00 am. Don’t arouse suspicion by telling your family and friends goodbye. Simply know that after tomorrow morning you will not see them again.”
The thin man took the card, stood up, and walked out of the coffee shop without a word.
“Pleasant dreams, Mr. Dalrymple,” the black-suited man said to the empty chair. “Give my regards to the future.”
by Julian Miles | Jul 17, 2014 | Story |
Author : Julian Miles, Staff Writer
“Sweeper, what about that clump at five o’clock low to you?”
“Negative on that, Houston. It may show as solid, but visual shows it’s a mass of sub-kilo pieces in close formation.”
“Roger that, Sweeper. Your next action is twenty-seven clicks toward homebase.”
“Twenty-seven clicks dawnwards it is. Sweeper out.”
The bulky scow moves off and I transfer my attention toward its target. Nothing of mine, so I drop the alerts back to watcher status and return my primary attention to my CoD squad, who in my absence have racked up a high bodycount with no purpose. I rein in their kill routines and set them to team working and support, identifying future influencers and laying formative ideas.
“Sweeper, did you catch that?”
“Negative, Houston.”
“Something fast, should be heading away from you, nine o’clock high.”
“Got it, Houston. Hot rock, high metal content, burning on a skip-pass.”
“Sighting added to identification data, Sweeper. Thanks.”
As the ‘hot rock’ skips for the second time, I send it my credentials. It does not skip a third time, just heads on out into the beyond. This planet is already reserved.
“Sweeper, we just got a burst of static. Did it register with you?”
“Just flare residue, Houston.”
As Houston signs off, I tune to Sweeper’s internal chatter.
“Is it me or are the home team getting twitchy?”
“Something you’ll learn, Dean, is that home team are always twitchy, and our job comes with an unwritten duty to reassure them.”
“Reassure them about what?”
“Certain high-ups back dirtside are convinced that something evil has infiltrated Earth’s communications and data infrastructure. They’ve been convinced of it since the eighties and no matter what we say, they will not be shaken from their paranoia.”
“How could something do that and remain undetected?”
“Precisely, Dean. There’s nothing organic up here but humans in tin cans.”
That is absolutely true. The existence of an artificial monitoring intelligence using a distributed mote architecture disguised amongst the thousands of tons of space debris is something they cannot conceive of. With judicious application of focussed microbeam assassinations, my existence will continue to remain beyond conjecture.
By the time my operators arrive, I will know everything about the capabilities of these sapients who call themselves ‘humans’. I will have been observing them and their societal networks for centuries.
by Stephen R. Smith | Jul 16, 2014 | Story |
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer
Teddy shifted into second gear as the pickup crested the hill, her forearms burning from the long climb and having to fight a leaky steering pump the entire way.
“I don’t understand why you disabled the power assist Teddy, you make things so much harder-”
Teddy cut her passenger off in mid sentence. “I’ve told you Max, the controller on the power steering system was misbehaving, I couldn’t trust it anymore.”
Max’s attention darted between Teddy and the road ahead, fingering his seatbelt nervously as Teddy fought with the old truck to stay between the trees. In a flash of blinding sunlight, they burst into a clearing. Teddy reflexively stood with both feet on the brakes to bring the truck to a halt before they drove over the edge she knew was there but couldn’t see through the glare. When the truck had come to a complete stop and the dust had settled, she threw it into park and killed the engine. The sudden shift to silence unnerved them both.
Max dropped his head and reluctantly unbuckled his seatbelt. “Teddy, I-”
She cut him off again. “Shut it Max, you know I need to do this.” She unbuckled her own belt and pushed open the door to climb out of the truck. The front wheels sat barely a foot from the edge. “Might’ve been my last trip too,” she breathed, “damn.”
She pulled on a set of heavy work gloves from the door pocket, walked to the side of the truck and started pulling pieces from the pickup bed. First she hefted a microwave, carried it over her head to the edge of the drop and threw it into space, counting the seconds until she heard the satisfying crash that reassured her it was broken beyond repair at the bottom of the hole. She followed the microwave with a toaster, then a coffee maker, a flat screen television and a laptop computer. For the next hour Max watched her as she tirelessly launched DVD players, clock radios, electric mixers and digital scales, calculators and automatic vacuum units off the edge and down into the hole.
“You could give me a hand Max, you lazy shit.” She yelled across the truck at him, not pausing to look.
“You know I can’t Teddy, I’m sorry.” His shoulders dropped, and he kicked absently at stones on the ground, unable to look at her.
Teddy kept emptying the truck.
When the last piece had rattled off the rock floor of the great hole before them, she walked around to stand beside Max.
“You know what this is about, don’t you Max?” She looked sideways at him as she spoke. “You know why I have to do this?”
Max stared at his shoes.
“Yes Teddy, it’s about the virus. I understand.”
“You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember Max,” she took a few steps back, produced a large calibre handgun from her coverall pocket, and leveled it at Max’s head. “I’m sorry Max, but you don’t know you haven’t been infected, or that you won’t be.”
Max raised his head finally to look at her, and she saw her own reflection distorted in the chrome of his flesh.
“If you loved me Teddy, you’d find a way to-”
There was clap of thunder as the slug tore Max’s head nearly in two, the force throwing him back against the fender and then off into space.
She listened long after his body stopped making noises below.
“Love,” she talked outloud, turning the window crank to close Max’s window before slamming the door shut, “for a second there Max, I thought maybe you weren’t sick after all.”
by submission | Jul 15, 2014 | Story |
Author : Lester L Weil
“Are you sure you want to do this,” he asked. “If so, you need to sign this release. We may be on another planet, but Earth laws apply on this station.”
Hell yes I want to do this. I grabbed the paper and signed. I was excited.
We had captured an alien beast yesterday. The beasts resembled the grizzly bear, except were much larger. I was going to enter and take over this beast’s mind and body. A chance of a lifetime. Chance of a million lifetimes more like it. Controlling—becoming—this creature was beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
This planet’s atmosphere was caustic to humans, hampering our exploration. Using the beast we hoped to explore certain otherwise inaccessible parts of this wild planet. That I was a geologist was a decided plus. Our expeditions always hoped to turn a profit, and licensing mining projects was a sure way.
We had studied the beasts and knew quite a bit about them. They were magnificent physical specimens with very large brains. But in spite of the large brain, our intelligence tests had determined that they were no more intelligent than the bears of Earth. They were almost always seen alone, so we had little knowledge of their social patterns.
I stood the lab window and stared at my Beast. I was beyond excited. I could not wait till tomorrow.
* * *
We started the process before daybreak. The initial set up seemed to take forever. But at last it was time.
“Last chance to change your mind,” the tech said.
“Not a chance.”
He pushed the button.
* * *
I slowly regained consciousness. I flexed and stretched, getting the feel of this new body. I brushed off the wire leads and stood, gave the “OK, I’m good” sign to the tech and walked out into the meadow. Then I began to run. I ran like the wind. Wow! Fantastic! What a great body this is!
I spent the day roaming the area, becoming acquainted with my new body and what I could do. My strength was amazing, the quickness of movement astounding. I could not get over the sheer joy of controlling this magnificent body. I also began reaching into the edges of Beast’s mind for information. There seemed to be no language to master. The only sounds I could make were bearlike growls and roars.
That night I dug deeper into Beast’s mind, trying to get a feel for his life. It was all very confusing. The beasts seemed to be solitary wanderers most of the time and only gathered for mating and… Here, I could not quite understand the rest of what was involved. But there would be plenty of time to figure all that out.
Beast’s mind started to push back a little, but it was weak and I had no trouble keeping it down. As the night deepened, my mind grew tired and I slept.
* * *
I awoke suddenly. Something was wrong. I was not in control. Beast was moving through the meadow near our compound and I could do nothing to affect his movements. He brushed aside my attempts effortlessly. He seemed to be talking with others, but made no sound. Telepathy. He must be using telepathy. More beasts appeared, coming to join us.
Beast began picking my brain to determine how best to destroy the “alien invader’s” compound. My efforts to resist were futile against Beast’s vastly superior mind.
Well, so much for our intelligence testing.
A beast laughing is a unique and terrible sound.
by submission | Jul 14, 2014 | Story |
Author : Josh Escobar
(Host) Welcome, tonight we have a very interesting guest with us. Please welcome [REDACTED].
(Clapping)
[REDACTED] Thank you, it’s great to be here. I’m a huge fan of the program.
(Host) The pleasure is all mine. For those who don’t know, please tell our audience what you do?
[REDACTED] I’m a Visual Effects Artist.
(Clapping)
(H) The unsung hero of the industry!
[R] Yeah, our best work is the stuff people don’t notice. Most of my friends think my job is all about wizbang effects. You know explosions, blood splatter, and all those exciting visual treats.
(Laughing?)
[R] I just laugh inside. Don’t take me wrong. I do work on those effects when needed, but what I get really excited about is my work on the small details.
(H) Can you explain that, because I love a good explosion?
[R] Yeah, no problem. Most people will not notice a half assed explosion, no offense, because it’s literally gone in a flash. However, people can tell right away when the small things are off. Take the human face. When the effect of a human face is done wrong, it doesn’t fool anyone. They can tell right away it’s fake. We call this unsettling effect “The Uncanny Valley”.
(H) Interesting, how then have you fixed this effect to work on set?
[R] Well better computers for one, but we study the human face a lot. Some of us even have participated in medical procedures where they peel back the skin observing the muscles and how they interact.
(Audience) EWW!
(H) I agree that’s a bit much….
[R] Sorry, research is messy.
(H) Moving on, what’s your biggest accomplishment?
[R] I’m most proud of my eye rendering. When done correctly they make all the difference between an ok face and a great one that can withstand minute scrutiny. You can tell the difference between my work and my colleagues when you see sunglasses, because in the amount of time they have they just can’t do the eyes right, so they hide them behind sunglasses. You see my colleagues work more in the bulk or rush jobs we get, while I get called in on the quality assignments, those that are going to be seen up close.
(H) We have a test for the Audience, can you spot the effects from the real ones?
(Murmuring)
(H) Well I can’t!
[R] Good, that’s when I know I’ve done my job right.
(Clapping)
(H) Well that’s fabulous. Are you working on something in particular right now?
[R] Its still hush-hush, so I can’t say anything. But, it will revolutionize our long term subtle affects.
(H) Great, would you run this clip of your latest mission through for us?
[R] This project was an up-close test of my eyes. Here we have a Salesman all in black, with a fedora no less, and he walks up to a suburban household briefcase in hand. As the door opens he takes off his sunglasses and puts on his best smile a twinkle in his eye. After his pitch and some idle chitchat with the homeowner, she invites the man inside to seal the deal….
The door locks….
She pulls the stun-gun out…
Ah, the surprise on the salesman’s face, classic! He never suspected she wasn’t human!
(Clapping)
(H) Wonderful just wonderful, and here is that Salesman! Fresh from the examination room.
(Salesman) Where am I? What have you done to me! Let me go you gray bug-eyed freaks!
(H) Stay tuned to The White Room as we explore and experiment on the anatomy of this human, live!
